1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a turbocharger system including not only a turbocharger, but also a mounting pedestal arranged with utilities needed to operate and position the turbocharger. The mounting pedestal is attached to the cylinder block of an engine and is connected with various utilities integrated within a mounting pad associated with the cylinder block.
2. Related Art
Turbocharging has been used for a number of years with internal combustion engines. Although early turbochargers were often cooled primarily by air, as well as by the flow of oil through the turbocharger's bearings, later model turbochargers, especially larger turbochargers and those installed in heavy duty engines, generally utilize coolant circulating from the engine's cooling system through the turbo, and then back to the engine's main cooling system.
Turbochargers also require oil supply and drain utilities to lubricate bearings incorporated within the turbocharger. Needless to say, the provision of a source of coolant and a source of oil, with both being under pressure, as well as draining the oil and coolant from the turbocharger and returning these fluids separately to the engine, has necessitated a good deal of plumbing. Usually, this plumbing takes the form of external hoses and fittings. Unfortunately, external fluid connections and associated pipes and hoses cause problems because hoses and fittings are known to leak and are subject to damage accelerated by the high temperatures prevailing within engine compartments. Moreover, aside from durability issues, the need for external plumbing for turbochargers increases the space required by the turbocharger in an already crowded underhood environment.
Turbochargers mounted on engines typically consume a good deal of space for another reason. Because known mounting arrangements are not susceptible to locating the turbocharger close to the engine block, turbochargers must be spaced away from the engine to permit the insertion of the turbochargers' fasteners. U.S. Pat. No. 6,125,799 discloses a bulky mounting system relying in part upon external utilities to the extent that mounting a turbochargers is recommended only on the extreme front or back of an engine. Moreover, other known turbocharger mounting systems increase radiated noise because of a lack of rigidity and because of the dimensional problems associated with their usage.
It would be desirable to provide a turbocharger, including a mounting system having integral supply and return passages for coolant and lubricating oil and communicating directly with utility passages within a hard point associated with a cylinder block.